This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Imam
al-Qasthalani (r.a.) mentioned the
following from one of the greatest tabi’in,
Imam Abu Ishaq az-Zuhri (r.a.), who
said that Shaykh al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr asw-Swiddiq (r.a.) said, “Of the proven blessing of
the likeness of the Prophet’s sandal is that whoever has it in his possession
for tabarruk, it will safeguard him
from the sedition of rebels and the mastery of enemies, and will be a barrier
against every recreant devil and the evil eye of the envious. If the pregnant woman holds it in her right
hand at the time of labour, her delivery will be easier by Allah's change and
His might.”

Imam
al-Qasthalani (r.a.) also said that Imam
Abu al-Yaman ibn ‘Asakir (r.a.) wrote
a volume on the image of the Prophet's (s.a.w.)
sandal, and so did Shaykh ibn al-Hajj al-Andalusi (r.a.). He related the
account of a pious shaykh by the name
of Shaykh Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn `Abd al-Majid (q.s.): “I cut the pattern of this sandal for one of my students. He came to me one day and said: ‘I saw a
wonder yesterday from the blessing of this sandal. My wife was suffering from a pain which almost
took her life. I placed the sandal on
the spot of her pain and said, ‘O Allah, show me the Blessing of the owner of
this sandal. Allah Cured her on the
spot.’”

In
classical Arabic, the word used for a sandal is ‘na’al’. The ‘na'alayn’ are the two blessed sandals of
Rasulullah (s.a.w.) which were used
by him during his life. Over the years,
scholars have mentioned the benefits to be gained by keeping and honouring
ourselves with a representation of the sacred na’alayn, not the actual or original blessed slipper of our
Messenger (s.a.w.) but a cut-out copy
or something which is similar. This
serves as a symbol for his sandal, which is revered, due to it being worn on
the blessed feet of the Greatest of all Creation (s.a.w.). An original pair of
the Messenger’s (s.a.w.) na’alayn has
been kept in the famous Topkapi Palace Museum in Turkey.

These
are numerous blessings to be obtained by keeping the na'alayn. It is not only the
na'alayn which are a blessing, but
anything which is associated with the Prophet (s.a.w.). For instance, Fathimah
az-Zahrah (r.a.) once went to the maqam of her Beloved Father (s.a.w.) and took a handful of dust which
she put to her eyes, saying, “One who
smells the dust of the grave of the Most Beloved Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) would not need to smell any other perfume in his life. Such calamities have befallen me, that if
they had descended upon days they would have fallen into nights.”

It
is mentioned in Swahih al-Bukhari
that ‘Ali (k.w.) was cured of his eye
ailment when Rasulullah (s.a.w.) applied
his blessed saliva to his eye. It is
also narrated that Bilal (r.a.) used
to rub his face on the grave of the Beloved Prophet (s.a.w.). The practice of
honouring relics, tabarruk, was
common among the companions of the Messenger (s.a.w.). The noble companions
gave the utmost respect to his relics and used to seek blessings from the
reminders they had of the Messenger (s.a.w.)
during his lifetime. They made the
relics a wasilah, a means, for cure
in this world and the acquisition of Divine Mercy after death.

Love
is the strongest of all human emotions. It is love that distinguishes the relationship
between the believers and their Prophet (s.a.w.)
who said, “None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his
very self, wealth and all people.” It
was this love as well as by an understanding of the immense importance of the
personal example of our Messenger (s.a.w.)
that caused the ummah to preserved
his entire life in the most exacting detail.
His noble sandals have received particular attention because of the
utmost love and humility for our Beloved Prophet (s.a.w.) such that we do not see ourselves worthy of even the dust beneath
his blessed feet.

The
attention given to the na’alayn is
not a recent phenomenon or an innovation. The first generation, the companions were
known to have given them attention and importance, such that some of them were
recorded as having distinguished themselves with serving the noble sandals. It has been reported by Shaykh ibn Sa’ad (r.a.) that Anas ibn Malik (r.a.) was the keeper of the sandals of
the Messenger (s.a.w.) and Imam asw-Swalihi
(r.a.) reported in his work, Subul al-Huda wa ar-Rashad, that ‘Abdullah
ibn Mas’ud (r.a.) used to get up as
soon as Rasulullah (s.a.w.) sat down and
remove the Beloved Messenger's (s.a.w.)
sandals and place them under his arms. When
the Prophet (s.a.w.) got up, he would
place them on his blessed feet. Many
other narrations have been transmitted from the companions giving exact
descriptions of the noble sandals of the Messenger (s.a.w.).

The
depiction of the na’alayn has had a
special place in the hearts of Muslims since it reminds them of their
tremendous love for the Prophet (s.a.w.)
and inspires in them the utmost humility towards his high rank. Because of this, they took care to record its
depiction, to draw it, and they sometimes placed it under their turbans in a display
of their love for the Prophet (s.a.w.).
They also hung this depiction in their
houses, seeking blessings from it. Writers
and poets wrote eloquently in praise of the noble sandals and described their
ecstatic love for the one who wore them. Imam Abu al-‘Abbas (r.a.) gathered a significant amount of these writings in his works,
as well as in his treatise, Azhar ar-Riyadh.

During
the caliphate of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab (r.a.),
whenever a punishment of beating had to be carried out due to transgression of hudud, he would place a small piece of
this blessed sandal on the whip. Whosoever
was whipped eventually became pious and made true repentance. A piece of sandal that touched a body made
that body haram for the fires of
Hell. And this is for those who seek to truly
understand the reality and greatness of our Prophet (s.a.w.).

1 comment:

AsSalaam Alaikum,May Allah REWARD YOU AND YOUR AHLE for a VERY BEAUTIFUL PRESENTATION...Please KEEP ME POSTED on this subject and advise where can I obtain a (replica) pair of such sandals?Jazak-Allahkhair,Mansurmansuralrashad@gmail.com